1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the invention relate generally to communication networks, and more particularly to employing state information in providing communication services to a mobile device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since the advent of mobile communication devices, such as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), the number of different types of communication in which these devices may engage has expanded significantly. Thanks to advancements in the devices themselves, and the communication networks with which they communicate, users may now view web pages on the World Wide Web (WWW), engage in telephonic communications over the Internet by way of Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP), view and hear streaming audio and video, and access e-mail, among others. Typically, these communications occur over a data packet communication protocol, such as Internet Protocol (IP).
Communication networks that contain multiple smaller networks have been devised to allow such access by mobile devices to occur while the mobile device is in motion. In one example, multiple radio access networks (RANs), each of which provide communication service to a mobile device over a specific geographic area, may be coupled with a packet data network, such as an Internet Protocol (IP) network. As a mobile device moves from one area to another, responsibility for providing communication service for the mobile device is transferred, or “handed off,” from one RAN to the next to allow the mobile device to continue to access the attached packet data network. In addition, the Mobile IP communications protocol allows the mobile device to maintain a permanent IP address while moving from one RAN to another.
However, this process of handing off typically introduces a significant delay or interruption in the provision of the communication service from the standpoint of the user. “Real-time” communication services, such as audio, video and VoIP, may be particularly disrupted during the handoff.